Lake Forest Park: The history of a city told through personal stories

Linda Kraus interviews John M. Clayton Jr.  Photo by Virginia Clayton.
Courtesy of Time Binding Recording Your Story

It sounds odd that “personal” historian Linda Kraus, a psychologist and gerontologist, has completed a project that relates to the history of an entire city -- Lake Forest Park.

“One way to look at cities is to think of them as clusters of personal histories,” says Kraus. “As part of Lake Forest Park’s 50th anniversary celebration, I was asked to interview and record stories from ten, long-time residents. In a sense, it’s a slice of community history from the unique perspective of specific individuals. My interviewees range in age from 17 to 86.”

Sound editor Aaron Samuels
Photo courtesy Time Binding Recording Your Story

The 10 interviewees were selected from individuals who responded to a memory form sent out by the Shoreline Historical Museum. The form asked for their memories of Lake Forest Park -- the schools people attended, activities they recalled, funny or interesting incidents, government issues, and major changes they noted over the years.

“Peoples' stories and reminiscences were amazing!” said Kraus.  “We tried to get a representative sample of what life was like during the years from the 1930’s through the 1970’s. Because CDs only hold about an hour’s worth of audio, we had to limit the length of these interviews. I wish we could have included more people.”

Mayor Dave Hutchinson, John M. Clayton Jr, Larry E. Bean, Russ Dille, Jane Voge Poppe Schwebel, Diane Peterson Sheehan, Lillian "Blondie" Day, Roger Corbin, Ruth Muller, and Pauline Linda Day Roberts were the ten interviewees.

Kippy Gascoigne provided music for the sound track.
Photo courtesy Time Binding Recording Your Story

Kraus and her sound editor, Aaron Samuels, thought music would add to the CD so they invited 17-year-old Lake Forest Park student, Cyprian “Kippy” Gascoigne to play a piano sonata that was recorded for insertion in between tracks. Kippy was briefly interviewed as well.

Kraus said she was delighted to work on this project during the month of May, which was National Personal History Month.

The CD is a companion piece to a Memory Book produced and published by The Shoreline Historical Museum. Funded by a grant from 4Culture, the book and CD will available at the Lake Forest Park birthday celebration, taking place June 18 - 19 at Third Place Commons. Copies will be archived in the Museum and can be checked out at the LFP public library.